Haven
by storm-aurora
Summary: Emma lives on the streets of Lumiose City with a group of orphans and runaways like her. But this world is a rough one, where it's every man for himself. She still hopes for a better life, and one day, a haven is offered to her.


**A/N: An anonymous prompter on Tumblr asked me to write the prompt "You're safe now" with Emma. This was the result.**

"You'll be safe at Cassius's place. I'll take you to meet him."

That was a big, fat lie.

I should have known better than to trust her. Living on the streets, it's every man for himself. They call us the Lumiose Gang, but we really only team up to do things that we can't do on our own. There's no room for "sharing" or "being nice" in this world.

But she was promising something better, and I…I got hopeful.

Hope is a painful thing. It causes suffering all for the sake of what _could_ happen to make things better. And if it turns out to be false hope, it magnifies the pain of falling back into despair. In my case, that false hope tacked on the pain of betrayal and abandonment, plus a few new scrapes and bruises to boot.

I hate her. I hate all of them. They never cared about me. No one cares about me.

I struggle to my feet. I'm sore all over, but that's nothing now. I can't lie here exposed until I feel better – I don't need to leave myself open to scavengers while I recover. I need food. I slowly begin making my way back down the alley. If my internal compass is right, the Lumiose Galette stand is this way. I might be able to snag a galette from them or a customer.

However, I haven't gotten far before I hear footsteps running towards me. I don't have the time or the energy to run and find somewhere to hide, so I press myself against the wall and wait for whoever's coming to pass.

He's younger than me, but just as thin. While his clothes aren't nearly as tattered as mine, they've still got the telltale rips and patches of a street rat like me. But what interests me the most about him is the plain white box he's holding. I'm certain that it contains a freshly-baked batch of Lumiose Galettes, and my mouth waters just thinking about it. I'm taking that box of galettes away from him.

I stick out a foot to trip him as he passes me, and I snatch the box out of his hands as he falls. I sprint in the direction he came from, adrenaline lending me the energy to keep moving. I don't consider the possibility that the kid I tripped might have been running _away_ from someone until I've already run into him.

My shoulder takes the brunt of the impact, and I fall on top of him. I want to roll off him and keep running, but the force of the collision has made my injuries start to ache all over again. It's hard to even do the first part of that. He gets up before me, and I brace myself for whatever punishment he deems me worthy of for stealing his galettes. He reaches a hand towards me, and I wait for the blow.

It never comes.

"I'm sorry," he says. "Are you okay?"

I slowly open my eyes. He's looking down at me with dark gray eyes, and his brow is slightly furrowed. His hand is open and extended towards me – not forceful, but a gentle offering. He's not reaching down to strike me, but rather to…help me up.

I grasp his hand quickly – if he changes his mind, it's harder for him to hit me when I'm holding his hand. But he pulls me up without hesitation, and his hand releases mine and returns to his side. I lean against the wall for support.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen…" he begins, but he trails off, fixing his attention on something beside me. I glance to the side and realize the boy I stole the box from has arrived empty-handed, and the guy I ran into is looking between the two of us, slowly piecing things together. "Are those…my Lumiose Galettes?" he finally asks.

I push myself away from the wall. I need to get out of here. But all of a sudden, I feel dizzy, and I just fall forward instead. The guy catches me and the box of galettes, but at the same time, the kid yanks the box away from us and flees. That's probably the last we'll see of him.

But then the guy's free arm moves beneath me and he shouts, "Kit! Grab him!"

 _Is this guy a Pokémon Trainer?_

Pokémon Trainer or not, having him shout in my ear makes my head throb. I only manage to straighten up for a moment before I have to slump against the wall again, but at least I can see what's going on now.

The guy has sent out a huge, round, pink Pokémon with a long tongue. The Pokémon extends its tongue and uses it to grab the kid and pull him back to us. The guy takes the box back from the kid, smiles, and says, "Thank you!" Then the Pokémon puts the kid back on the ground. He glances quickly between me, the guy, and his Pokémon before he sprints away

That kid has the right idea. I'd sprint away too, if I had the energy to do it. Instead, I just lean against the wall and warily eye the black-haired guy whose galettes I just tried to steal. He's taller and thicker than me, but his thickness looks to be more fat than muscle. I could probably overpower him if I wasn't so worn out. I don't know what he's going to do to me. I wish he'd just take his galettes and leave.

"Hey," he says, "are you okay? You didn't answer me last time."

That again? He sounds like he's concerned about me. But why would he care about a strange kid who just tried to rob him? He's faking it, I know he is. I don't know what he hopes to gain from it, but there has to be something that he wants from me. He can't seriously care about me.

It would be nice if someone cared about me.

I shake my head quickly – not a lot, but enough to get my message across to him. "I'm tired, and…and I'm hungry, and, and, and my body hurts all over," I whimper. I'm trembling now, and the guy puts a hand on my shoulder. I think it's supposed to be comforting, but I flinch away instinctively. I'm not used to comforting touches.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," the guy says, slowly lowering his hand. "I'm not gonna hurt you. You're safe now. Here, do you want something to eat?"

He opens the box of galettes and takes one out and offers it to me. I hesitate, instinct telling me to stay on my guard. Being too trusting got me into this mess in the first place, and I don't want to make things even worse for me. Slowly, I take the galette from him, and once I'm certain that he's not going to take it back from me I gobble it down in two bites.

"There you go," he says, grinning widely. "Food makes everything better. Don't worry – there are plenty more where that came from!" He offers me another galette, and I accept it with a little less hesitation. I eat this one slower, stopping to savor the flavor of the sweet. He takes one for himself and gives another to his Pokémon. Then he looks back at me. "I'm Diamond," he says. "This is Kit, my Lickilicky. What's your name?"

I look from his face down to the box of galettes and back to his face again. He chuckles and hands me another galette. I didn't want to be hopeful, but here I am, hoping again. Hoping that his kindness is genuine. Hoping that his kindness will continue. And so, I respond in kind. "My name is Emma."

"Emma," he repeats. "Where do you live, Emma?"

I shrug. I don't know where I'm going to live now. I can't go to the plaza where the Lumiose Gang hangs out anymore – I'll have to find somewhere else.

Diamond scrutinizes me for a moment, taking in my tangled mess of hair, my mangled clothing, and my dirty, broken skin. "You look like you could use a little cleaning up," he asserts. "Why don't you come with me? If you'd like, you can stay with my friends and I for the next few days. We're leaving after that, but…well, we'll see what you want to do then. What do you say?"

I stare at him in disbelief. It sounds too good to be true. He can't seriously be offering me food and shelter for _days_ for free. "What's the catch?" I ask shakily.

He blinks. "What do you mean, what's the catch?"

"You can't just give me all of this at no cost," I say.

"But you need it," he says. "I want to help you."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because you don't care about me."

He tilts his head quizzically. "But I do care about you."

I'm silent for a moment as his words sink in. This stranger…Diamond, this young man who I've just met, cares about me. As if he couldn't imagine it any other way. I don't understand why. But maybe the why's not as important as I always make it out to be.

I want to be with someone who cares about me.

"I'll come with you."

Diamond smiles and offers his hand to me. It's pale and clean – exactly the opposite of my dark, dirty, scraped one. But I take it anyways. His grip is firm, but not tight – stable, steady, unyielding.

For the first time in my life, I feel truly safe now.

 **A/N: Reuploaded to get rid of a bot leaving spam reviews on the story.**


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